Lance Armstrong can’t run the Chicago Marathon

Lance Armstrong has been banned from cycling because he gave up fighting against charges of doping by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Now, he has found out the ban extends to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. According to Runner’s World, organizers of the Oct. 7 run are upholding the ruling that keeps him from all sports.

Armstrong was planning to run to raise money for the Livestrong Foundation.

“It seems a little over the top to pursue him beyond the cycling arena to me,” John Conley, whose company owns and operates the Livestrong Austin Marathon and Half Marathon, told Runner’s World.

Though Armstrong’s camp sees this as a personal plot against the cyclist, it’s the opposite. U.S. Track and Field has to enforce rulings by USADA, and the organizers of the Chicago Marathon know it’s in their best interest to stay on USADA’s good side.

This marathon isn’t some fun run. Some of the world’s elite regularly run and win the event. Chicago, along with Boston, New York, London and Berlin, is one of the world’s major marathons. Ignoring USADA’s ruling for anyone, even a celebrity, would put Chicago’s standing as a major in jeopardy.

Sorry, Lance, but the 45,000 people who run the streets of Chicago after training for months shouldn’t have their marathon’s standing put in question simply because you want to run. There’s nothing keeping you from raising money for Livestrong in other ways.